Day 6 - Bonito

After staying awake way too late talking to my new friends from all over the world, I woke up to my alarm exhausted yet ready to take on the new day. Hannah and I got dressed and grabbed some breakfast in a rush. We then boarded the bus and went on a short bus ride to our first activity in Bonito! We played some music aboard the bus and sang and danced even if we didn’t know the song or the language it was in. The landscape here in Mato Grosso do Sul, reminds me of home. Many fields,hills and vegetation.
We soon arrived to the forest we would soon explore. When I first arrived I did not know what to expect.

The exchange students all gathered together in a meeting place where we hung out together and waited to see what was next. The groups all began to go their separate ways and get dressed into the gear we would need for the trek. We got boots and life vests and wore those for the hike and the waterfalls. After that was all finished we loaded up on the trucks and drove to the beginning of the trail. We begin walking and I noticed how green everything was and saw that it was so beautiful. I saw trees I’ve never seen and many little insects that I didn’t know existed. After a short hike through the jungle,we arrived at the first waterfall where we swam and took many pictures to remember these moments. Our group continued to explore more of the jungle and all the other waterfalls. At one place we heard that a snake was spotted. Stanley, my groups chaperone saw that I was scared about that and scared me by acting like a log was a snake… I screamed and it was all caught on video too. They all laughed and I was fine with that because I found it funny too. Another thing we did was that we took a trip on a boat down a river. It was fun because we got to row the boat! Lastly for our jungle adventure was jumping off the cliff. It was about six meters high and it brought so much adrenaline when you jumped off. This was by far the highlight of my day. When this was all over we went back to the place we first arrived and saw there was another group of rotary exchange students. It was cool meeting everyone and some people even reunited with people they knew from back home! After we ate lunch we went to the Projetojiboa, which is a snake protection project where they educate people on snakes. We all got to hold a snake but I was afraid because I don’t like snakes. It was very interesting to learn about them though! To end the night we went to downtown Bonito where we ate dinner, walked around and where I had my first real Brazilian açaí! I had no idea I would enjoy it so much. All the exchange students and I hung out at a table and we probably looked crazy to outsiders because we were all laughing and speaking about five different languages to communicate. We ended up coming back to the hotel and will hang out until 12:30 tonight. After today, I am excited to see what tomorrow brings!